G20 Leaders launch employment initiative for Africa

The G20 Leaders welcome the Vision Zero Fund, which aims to prevent work-place related deaths and injuries and is managed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as the Leaders launch a new G20 Initiative for Rural Youth Employment in developing countries with a focus on Africa.
The launch was part of the communique issued by the leaders at the end of their meeting in Hamburg, Germany.
The communique reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany encouraged G20 leaders to focus on issues that concern people and to rebuild confidence in multilateral cooperation around shared goals and challenges, despite pressures to turn inwards.
ILO Director General Guy Ryder, in the communique said “Fragile growth prospects and continued weak employment prospects formed the background to intensive Leaders’ discussions around how to shape a more inclusive globalization.
“The Leaders’ Declaration recognizes the importance of meeting the challenge of creating decent work opportunities and reversing trends towards increased inequality. In fact, most of the difficult topics on the G20 agenda today are made more intractable, or indeed largely caused, by unsatisfactory employment prospects.”
The Communiqué draws on the ILO’s work in several key respects. It stresses the importance of “well-functioning labour markets … to inclusive and cohesive societies and resilient economies. “Noting the impact of new technologies, demographic transition, globalization and changing working relationships on labour markets, the G20 Leaders pledge to “promote decent work opportunities during the transition of the labour market.”
The Communiqué welcomes the Vision Zero Fund, which aims to prevent work-place related deaths and injuries and is managed by the ILO. And the Leaders launch a new G20 Initiative for Rural Youth Employment in developing countries with a focus on Africa.
Recognizing that more needs to be done to reduce the gender gap in labour force participation by 25 per cent by 2025 as agreed at the 2014 G20 Summit, Leaders committed “to take further action to improve the quality of female employment and eliminate employment discrimination, and reduce gender compensation gaps and provide women with protection from all forms of violence”.
In May, G20 Labour and Employment Ministers adopted a Declaration on Towards an Inclusive Future: Shaping the World of Work . “It is significant to see how much of the work of Labour and Employment Ministers was used in preparing the Leaders’ Declaration,” pointed out Ryder.
Germany consulted widely during the year running up to the Summit, including with the Business 20 and Labour 20 which bring together organisations of employers and unions from G20 countries. “Shaping a fair globalization cannot be achieved by governments alone”, Ryder commented. “Business and labour must play a critical role in making the world of work more inclusive.”
The Communiqué covers such crucial issues as boosting employment, training people with skills for the future of work, women’s empowerment, integration of migrants and refugees into labour markets, climate change, promoting decent work in global supply chains, and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .
Source: ILO News